Chapter 160: Chapter 160: List of Heretical Purges_1
Two days later, at the Warden’s Office in the Rose Iron Prison, Rebecca paid another visit.
"Reconciling with the Witch Council? Is that true or false?" Rebecca’s face was etched with astonishment.
"It’s true," Aiden nodded calmly.
"This..." Rebecca hesitated for a moment, "doesn’t seem like something you would do."
"There’s nothing wrong with it. After all, Vila has already left the autonomous region, and you can’t catch her even if you want to. It’s not a solution to keep expending so much manpower and resources on the Heretic Inquisition and the Mounted Police just for my personal safety," Aiden replied nonchalantly.
"You should take this up with the director yourself," Rebecca frowned slightly.
"I’m not stupid, he would definitely flip the table. It’s better if you convey the message for me," Aiden said, smiling with a teacup in hand.
"Don’t use me as a shield," Rebecca muttered discontentedly, "In any case, the Witch Council is still an illegal organization. You, a former Judge, getting involved with that sort of organization... isn’t that a bit problematic?"
According to the Dark Magic Management Convention signed by the majority of the countries on the continent, witches and warlocks who studied dark magic privately almost all violated The Covenant. For most people, including Rebecca, the Witch Council was seen as a large transnational criminal organization.
Hearing that Aiden had reached a private reconciliation with the Witch Council, Rebecca couldn’t help but feel a bit worried.
"Not at all. First of all, what I’m doing isn’t any different from what the autonomous region and member states of The Covenant are doing. Second, to be precise, the Witch Council is not an illegal organization; it’s just that many of its members are wanted criminals," Aiden corrected, "Just look at Abigail, who is clearly an organizer of the Witch Council, is not on the wanted list of The Covenant’s countries."
"That’s because..." Rebecca hesitated for a moment, "she has always been secluded in Banquet Forest, which lies outside the declared territory of any country."
Aiden shook his head, "In this world, any dark mage of some fame is basically wanted by several countries. They let Abigail go because the cost of capturing her far outweighs the necessity of doing so. The countries that signed The Covenant certainly all wish for the Witch Council to disappear, but if the witches were really to unite against The Covenant, it could cause significant trouble for any country."
"So you’re saying, if The Covenant’s countries targeted Abigail, it might just unite the Witch Council?" Rebecca grasped his meaning.
"Yes, but the reverse is also true for the Witch Council. If Abigail personally unifies the Witch Council to confront The Black Magic Management Convention, she would immediately become the target of all," Aiden nodded, "That’s probably why Abigail has never done this."
Presia and Vila had always hoped that the Witch Council could be integrated into a tight organization to confront The Covenant, but in reality, the only person with the influence to do so was Abigail as the organizer, and yet Abigail had never chosen to do so. This could significantly improve the situation for all witches, but for Abigail personally, the disadvantages probably outweighed the benefits.
"So the countries haven’t targeted Abigail, and correspondingly, Abigail also wouldn’t openly confront The Covenant..." Rebecca mused.
"Exactly, so what I’m doing is no different from what several countries of The Covenant are doing," Aiden picked up his teacup with ease, "Abigail sent people to me, asking to write off the business with Vila and me, and I have no reason to refuse. Being enemies with the entire Witch Council is definitely not a wise choice."
"But there are still organizations that have declared war on them..."
"Yes, that’s why I asked you to pull the files on the Harvest Mother Cult for me to borrow." Aiden shook the file bag that Rebecca had given him.
Aiden decided to use the resources at hand to gather as much intelligence on the Harvest Mother Cult as possible before giving a response to the Witch Assembly.
Even though Qiqimora had revealed some information, Aiden was certain there was still something being concealed.
The Harvest Mother Cult’s reason for targeting the Witch Assembly definitely wasn’t just to obtain divinity; after all, none of the countries that signed The Covenant had ever considered declaring war directly against the entire Witch Assembly, such an unrewarding endeavor, yet a religious group attempting to restore their state within the Empire and Gistas managed to do it.
Moreover, the Witch Assembly itself is a rather loose organization; even among the seven Great Witches, only Presia, Vila, and Daili have a certain sense of camaraderie with one another, while the other Great Witches essentially act on their own.
If targeting the divinity possessed by those three Great Witches was the goal, the best course of action would be to strike at them individually, starting with the relatively easier targets, such as Lamia or Qiqimora.
However, the current situation saw Abigail sending Qiqimora to call back Vila, which indicates Abigail intends to personally organize for war, even allowing Vila, who does not possess divinity, to participate.
This suggests that the Harvest Mother Cult’s declaration of war is against the entire Witch Assembly, or at least, is specifically directed at Abigail herself.
The Harvest Mother Cult must have an ulterior motive, and perhaps Abigail truly does have a connection with the unnamed witch who founded the Flying Spaghetti Cult...
"These materials... you could’ve easily accessed them yourself at the office..." Rebecca said.
"Can’t help it, if I get caught by the old man now, it would get pretty troublesome," Aiden shrugged his shoulders.
Based on his understanding of Director Harold, merely the fact that he had independently reached an accord with the Witch Assembly was enough to give the old man something to complain about.
Therefore, he only let Rebecca convey the fact and kept the proposal of collaboration offered by the Witch Assembly to himself for the time being.
Rebecca stared at Aiden for a while, then suddenly expressed her sentiment, "It feels like you’ve changed a lot since you went to prison, your way of doing things used to be so similar to the Director’s."
"That’s a problematic way to put it, what do you mean ’since I went to prison’?" Aiden sighed, "Well, changing environments is bound to cause some changes in a person."
After all, he had quite literally "become a different person" from the former Aiden.
"I’ve heard from other operational teams that the Harvest Mother Cult has been increasingly active in the autonomous states recently, I wonder if it has anything to do with the Witch Assembly?" Rebecca folded her arms, "I’m a bit worried. When the wars start on both sides, I don’t know if it will affect us here."
"Speaking of which..." Aiden suddenly remembered something, "Regarding the autonomous states, what exactly is the stance on the Harvest Mother Cult? Has that cult been included in the ’anti-cult operations list’?"
